Putin boosted by Prigozhin’s apparent death; Wagner Group future in doubt

The presumed death of the high-profile leader of Russia’s Wagner Group has thrown the future of the mercenary force into serious doubt and strengthened the hand of President Vladimir Putin, two months after a short-lived Wagner rebellion left him looking weaker than at any point in his nearly 25-year rule.
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Putin made his first comments Thursday about the mysterious plane crash in the Tver region of Russia, which is believed to have killed Wagner leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin, along with his operations commander, Dmitry Utkin, and other senior members of the group — effectively decapitating a force that was once central to Russia’s war in Ukraine and still has fighters deployed across Africa and the Middle East.

“He was a talented person,” Putin said, speaking of his former ally in the past tense without explicitly confirming his death. “He made serious mistakes in his life,” the Russian president continued, promising a full investigation but saying it would take “some time.”

Prigozhin’s death had yet to be officially announced by Russian authorities or by his Concord group news service as of Thursday night in Moscow. Russia’s federal aviation service reported Wednesday that Prigozhin and Utkin were on the passenger list of the private Embraer jet that went down and that all 10 people onboard were killed.

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